Is it Lawsuit time? (Processing times)

Im in the same boat. Biometrics in June ‘23, lawsuit filed in July ‘24. I haven’t received a Court decision yet.

Our lawsuit to be given our Biometrics appointments got “accepted by the Court”! We applied Nov 15, 2024, and the court “accepted” it and asked AIMA to reply on April 22, 2025. Supposedly, AIMA had one week to reply to the court, but they haven’t done so yet.

Realistically, how long do they take to respond? Anybody with recent lawsuits have any info to add? :folded_hands:

Is there any time after which if they haven’t responded the Court just rules in our favor?

(and please don’t respond that I should just ask my lawyer, i’ve already done that, but I come to this forum because I don’t always feel like having a bunch of rosey bs blown up my ass, and occasionally I actually want a realistic view of what to expect;)

In our situation, the lawsuit was accepted on December 3 2024 and on Dec 13 we received an email from AIMA assigning us biometrics appointment March 13 3025 in Porto. The biometrics are done and now there is silence!

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Wow, 3025 is just around the corner… :slight_smile:

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I finally received my card in November 2024 (Lisbon Biometrics October 2022). It was issued in September 2024. My wife still has not received her biometrics appointment.

Is anyone else having to wait this long (almost 6 months) between getting their card and their spouse getting their fingerprints scheduled? I fear we slipped through the cracks and now our legal representation has stopped responding.

Had we known that husband and wife are processed at different times we would have chosen another country. To say we are frustrated with the whole process (originally made the Golden Visa real estate investment in April 2021) would be an understatement.

That sounds immensely frustrating, I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. Who is your lawyer.

Same situation. I (invested in Jan-2021) already holding my second card, and my spouse hasn’t even received pre-approval. It’s a joke.

MFG Consultants is our legal representation.

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Oh wow, that is even worse than our situation. Sorry to hear about it.

Lawsuit worked to get us our biometrics appointment!!! :tada:

March 28, 2023: Application submitted
Nov 15, 2024: Filed “Urgent” Lawsuit
April 22, 2025: Lawsuit accepted by the Court, AIMA ordered to respond
May 30, 2025: AIMA gives us me and my spouse our biometrics appointment!
July 16, 2025: future biometrics appointment!

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Could I ask if you are already in Portugal and if not, were you able to demonstrate urgency?

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It’s as much about pure luck in getting an “easy” judge as any argument you might put forward. We were not lucky… I mean if seventeen return flights to PT doesn’t demonstrate intent and urgency, wtf does?

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I’ve written about this before… seems my suspicion has been confirmed.

AIMA tossing us a Biometrics appointment is being used by the courts as reason enough to dismiss our cases. But having my Bios last year (over 6 months ago now) hasn’t got me what I sued for, which was final approval and a residency card :weary:

“As long as AIMA [Agency for Migration, Integration and Asylum] can […] inform the court that ‘we have [hypothetically] scheduled 12,000 interviews, please dismiss the case’, and we currently lack a clear count of how many cases remain pending from people who need a response,” lamented the judge secretary of the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts (CSTAF) at a meeting with journalists in Lisbon.

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would you plz give me your lowyer 's email is possible ?

If nothing else, would be good to see if a class action suit for such a case is even possible in Portugal…

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Visas.pt promising a “100% success rate” feels a bit “shyster lawyer” - even NSM which became a bit of an AIMA lawsuit factory last year never promised success.

But fwiw, they’ve now announced a “€795 AIMA lawsuit service.” If you approach them, be sure to ask them these hard questions!

They don’t address how they’d manage to break through the 50k 100k backlog of AIMA suits that exists at the Courts… see my next post below.

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Seems pretty pointless to file a lawsuit now…

Lawsuits against AIMA rise to over 100,000

There were approximately 20,000 complaints against the agency in July and August, cases with no resolution in sight. However, AIMA will not be enforcing the rulings, nor has it explained why.

  • on September 1, the number was 101,142 and rising daily. There are cases of law firms with over a thousand lawsuits against AIMA.
  • However, the agency is reportedly not complying with the court rulings. Not even the CSTAF (Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts) knows how many of these cases have been resolved
  • Currently, six judges work exclusively on these cases. Simply put, each judge is responsible for nearly 17,000 immigrant cases.
  • Most of the lawyers contacted by the newspaper about the matter confirm that the agency is not keeping the appointments ordered by the court. Some of the appointments scheduled for the summer have been postponed until October and November, one of the lawyers told DN.
  • Mission Structure… has already resolved nearly 90% of the expressions of interest, DN reports
  • The government’s announcement of several restrictions on family reunification and the inability to apply for a residence permit from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) led to a veritable rush to the courts. Since legal action is a way to secure rights before moving [i.e. before the law changes], this has been the option for thousands of immigrants to secure their rights. In these cases, there is no anticipated decision; the sole objective is to guarantee the right and avoid remaining in the country illegally
  • To date, there are no known cases of fines or other penalties being imposed against AIMA for failing to comply with the court orders, which are increasing daily.
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